Environment
Solving the performance and sustainability paradox
In the endless search for performance, how can sustainability be embedded into new boat builds
Would it surprise you to know that the carbon footprint of building one new Imoca 60 is about the same as the average footprint of manufacturing 105 Renault vehicles? ‘Considering that this footprint has almost doubled from 300 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent 10 years ago to 570- tonnes CO2e today, it's a real wake- up call,’ says Damian Foxall, 11th Hour Racing Team’s sustainability manager. ‘As an industry we’ve been moving much too fast in the wrong direction. We’ve seen amazing gains in performance but the indirect outcome is that our greenhouse gas emissions have gone through the roof. Collectively, we have this tunnel vision about performance at all costs and that has to change.’ We like to think of sailing as inherently sustainable but the uncomfortable truth is that to align with the Paris Agreement – which is the bare minimum of action needed to avoid catastrophic climate change – the racing yacht industry needed to cut its carbon footprint by at least half to achieve this first target by 2030. Since the Paris targets were set, the yacht racing industry's emissions have continued to increase and the task ahead now requires a full U-turn to achieve a
62 SEAHORSE
radical de-carbonisation of our sector. 11th Hour Racing Team is on a mission to identify potential solutions, test their viability and share them with the industry. These figures aren’t just theoretical estimates. They’re drawn from real data that has been measured and compiled in high- resolution lifecycle assessment (LCA) studies carried out with scientific rigour by two Imoca teams: Roland Jourdain’s Imoca project in 2010 and 11th Hour Racing Team in 2020. Given that both of these teams were using robust approaches to minimise and measure their respective carbon footprints, the challenge is clear: ‘To solve this paradox we need to place sustainability at the heart of policy and rules for everyone,’ Foxall says. CDK Technologies, the yard that built 11th Hour Racing Team’s new Imoca, was already on a 100 per cent renewable electricity tariff when the project started. This is a key first point for any project to address, with potential greenhouse gas emission reductions of 30 per cent or higher possible for builders and marine suppliers who shift from average grid electricity to 100 per cent renewable. The location of the build, access to local labour and short supply chains
Top: the 570- tonne carbon footprint for the build of 11th Hour Racing Team’s new Imoca Malama highlights the need to embed
sustainability into class and event rules. Above:
Etienne Le Pen worked full time on the boat’s lifecycle
assessment
are also important. CDK was chosen partly because its two sites in west Brittany are right at the heart of the French racing yacht industry. With most of the project’s other suppliers nearby, transport of materials and components was kept to a minimum. So why has the carbon footprint of an Imoca build doubled when it ought to have halved? ‘The complexity of designs and structures has increased enormously,’ Foxall explains, ‘and roughly twice as many man hours now go into the much more detailed construction of the hull, cockpit and deck. The technical specs of the carbon fibre and other materials used in the lay- up of cutting-edge composite hulls and structural components have changed significantly and by using a wider variety of increasingly
AMORY ROSS/11TH HOUR RACING
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